Boulder is expected to be mostly sunny with a high near 88 degrees Sunday. There is a 20 percent chance of thunderstorms after noon. The overnight low is expected to be near 60 degrees.

Source: The National Weather Service

Tornado sirens wailed in eastern Boulder County communities Saturday afternoon, and while no twister was spotted, by the time the storm system continued southward the velodrome in Erie had been partially flattened and other parts of the town were dealing with heavy flooding.

What started out as a hot and muggy morning in Boulder County quickly turned into a windy, wet and dangerous afternoon, as severe thunderstorm systems began to form on Colorado's northeastern plains and quickly moved south along the Front Range.

The National Weather Service shortly after 2:30 p.m. issued a tornado watch for 17 Colorado counties, including Boulder, Adams, Broomfield, Jefferson and Denver. That watch was lifted by 9 p.m.

Longmont and Lyons were the first to deal with the storm, experiencing heavy rainfall and high winds. Lightning struck Longmont's Terry Street substation Saturday night, causing about an hour-long power outage in an area near Burlington Elementary School.

As the storm moved south, the worst of it was focused on east county communities.

Boulder County Sheriff's spokeswoman Heidi Prentup said cloud movement over Erie spurred county officials to sound tornado sirens in those communities just before 6 p.m.

Sirens were sounded in Erie, Lafayette, Louisville and Superior, Prentup said, though no funnel clouds were spotted or confirmed.

As of 6:15 p.m., the Boulder County Office of Emergency Management said that the tornado threat had subsided, but heavy rains and high winds caused damage to structures in Erie, including the still under construction Boulder Valley Velodrome. The outdoor, 250-meter cycling track, located near County Line Road and East Bonnell Avenue, was expected to open later this summer before the storm left it a wreck in the middle of a flooded field.

"It's just devastation," velodrome construction foreman Mikel Reid said as he viewed the damage Saturday.

He said the velodrome will be rebuilt.

The Town of Erie, in a public notification email sent Saturday, noted that the storm caused street flooding, downed trees and resulted in some localized power outages. Erie's public works department and the Mountain View Fire Department set up an incident command center to deal with the fallout, the email said, which included damage to a private residence in the Erie Commons neighborhood.

No injuries were reported in connection with the storm.

Mikel Reid, construction foreman for the Erie Velodrome, looks over the damage to the track from the high winds and rain that moved through Erie, Colorado on August 3, 2013.
For more photos and videos of the storm damage, go to www.dailycamera.com.
Cliff Grassmick / August 3, 2013
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CLIFF GRASSMICK
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Other issues reported in Erie during the storm included an unoccupied semitrailer that was blown over by high winds and heavy flooding that temporarily made the intersections of East County Line Road and Erie Parkway and East County Line Road and Arapahoe Road impassable.

Boulder County emergency crews monitored areas in the western foothills and mountains for flooding during the storm, though no washouts were reported. There were some instances of debris being washed over roadways, according to police scanner traffic.

There were at least six confirmed tornado touchdowns in other parts of Colorado Saturday afternoon, although all were short-lived. Only one tornado near Lucerne, north of Greeley, had reports of damage associated with it, according to the National Weather Service.

Heavy winds as the storm approached the metro Denver area caused seven incoming flights at Denver International Airport to be diverted and contributed to 45-minute delays for others.

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